ABSTRACT
Based largely on the French model, local government in the Ottoman Empire during the period of modernization served as a tool of the Turkish Administration for the re-establishment of central rule in the provinces. Thus, between 1864 and 1877 the Ottoman government promulgated several laws relating to the establishment of a municipal system of local government. Following the British occupation of Palestine in 1917 the new Mandatory Government began to deal with the question of local authorities; Article 3 of the League of Nations Mandate over Palestine stipulated that "the Mandatory shall, so far as circumstances permit, encourage local autonomy". The Egyptians established in Gaza an "all-Palestine Government" and a Palestinian National Council consisting inter alia of ten local Arab mayors and led by elements that were hostile to Hashemite influence, thus challenging the legitimacy of Jordanian rule in the West Bank.
